Guild X-170 Question about bridge pick-up tone control

LEFTY

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Hello,
I finally recieved my Lefty Guild X-170-BL-B-LH (1995). A fine Guitar, and it mint condition. It does have the wooden bridge and Bigsby, but I seldom use the Bigsby and when I do very subtle so no tuning problems so far.
My question concerns the bridge pickup tone control. I cannot hear an audible difference in tone when adjusting it. The music store owner said he believes it is a very subtle difference. He said he would pay for a local tech to fix it if needed. Can anyone comment on this?
I do love this guitar though. The neck pickup tone is to die for.
Lefty
 

teleharmonium

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As long as you're talking about a full sweep of the tone control with that pickup selected, the difference shouldn't be subtle. The problem itself would most likely be a bad solder joint, and none of the parts involved are expensive, but it is tricky to work on because it is an archtop with no access panel, so I would recommend having it repaired by a pro.
 

Walter Broes

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My '62 X175 has that too - at living room volume the effect of the bridge tone control is barely noticeable, but you can hear a distinct treble roloff (and nasally midrange emphasis) at higher volume.
 

dklsplace

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I agree with teleharmonium about the solder joint. Had the same thing on my M-75 when I got it. In the process of resetting the neck, I pulled all the electronics to clean everything. Ended up replacing the pots & caps, but did discovery the ground off of the suspect tone pot.
 

teleharmonium

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I think it is true that a correctly functioning tone knob on an old Guild does have a way of rolling off just the highs while leaving the mids intact. It surprised me quite a bit when I got my first Guild (in a good way). You can certainly hear it working, but compared to some other guitars I could see someone describing it as subtle (while I wouldn't use that word). So, the question is, is your tone knob doing that, or is it literally not doing anything that you can hear ?

If you aren't sure, I would think you could measure the DC resistance at the output with a multimeter while turning the tone knob to see if it varies. Or, maybe you could measure for a signal on the ground connection (from the shunted part of the signal on the other end of the tone cap) as you turn the knob.
 

LEFTY

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Thanks for all the valuable input. By subtle I mean "very subtle", maybe not audible.
One question: If I remove the bridge pickup, and drop that tone control will I have enough slack wire to be able to examine the control in the pickup cavity?
The store owner offered to pay for Tech to fix the guitar, but I am hesitant to let it go.
The other option is to live with it as is.
thanks,
Lefty
 

Squawk

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Lefty -

Just had a chance to test my X170 - did so through my acoustic amp setup which would tend to moderate any tonal difference from the pot setting (as opposed to my Fender Vibrolux which would accentuate any difference). My X170 is a 1996, so other than being right-handed, it should be fairly identical.

Bottom line - even with the acoustic amp setup, there is a VERY audible difference - equal for both the bridge and neck pickups. I would not recommend leaving alone - you may have other electric problems develop because of it, and your window of opportunity for free repair could close.

Why are you hesitant to have the store fix it if it's no cost? I'm sure you can arrange to leave it for just one day - or maybe wait for it. If the store uses a contract repair facility, find out if you can bring it personally. What if you find a can of worms when you open it - and the store refuses at that point to correct it as you tried to fix it yourself?
 
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